Chapter 22

The Renzucon fell out of light speed after barely a second. No sooner had it disappeared but it reappeared by the further away planet, and Leo had only seconds to realise that his plan had worked.

The Crusader was now far too far away to catch him with its tractor beam, but they would see what he had done and pursue him soon enough. Leo wouldn't have long to choose a planet and leave.

He typed in the number for Pentusar, remembering it with clarity, and then activated the navi computer. It began to whirl, picking out numbers, and the relief was massive. As soon as the computer was settled, he would be able to go, and then it would be a case of finding another planet.

But where would he go once this was all over? The escape from the Council was important enough now, but once this fiasco was complete, he had no idea where he might head next.

No, that wasn't entirely true. There was the little case of his mother…

Somewhere out there, she was being held on a Battlestar… The Thunderstrike, Eroth had said. They were heading for space held by the Intergalactic Empire.

But where was that? Leo had never known where exactly the Empire's space began. Ranzel had mentioned at one point that Pentusar Spaceport was close to the border, though, so it couldn't really be that far from his intended destination. Perhaps now he was more aware of the darkness, he might be able to lead himself towards its stronghold.

The numbers were complete now. Soberly, Leo allowed his fingers to feed the number into the main computer, his eyes on the panel which told him where the Crusader was.

Before he could activate the hyper drive though, the golden skinned woman appeared on his screen again. "We demand that you surrender yourself at once," she said, firmly.

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Leo said, coldly. "The Sith I encountered on Iroth – Lord Ra…"

"Eroth Ra?" The gold skinned woman said, shocked.

"Yes…that was his name."

"Eroth Ra is a Jedi Knight," she insisted, stiffly. "I cannot believe otherwise…"

"Believe that if you will, but I tell you that he is a Lord of the Sith," Leo replied, sharply. "He tried to kill me, and he was party to the kidnapping of my mother."

"That is a daring accusation…"

"None the less, he did it," Leo said, firmly. "I will not let my mother be prisoner to the Imperials."

"What are you suggesting? Flying straight to Coruscant to find her? The more fool you! You would be dead before you reached the Ancient planets."

Coruscant? That information could prove invaluable…

"I'm a fast learner. Nether the less, you lose nothing by letting me go."

"We may lose everything if you become one with the Dark Side."

Leo shook his head. "Then that is a risk you will have to take." He turned his eyes to the scanner. The glittering Crusader was coming closer now, and Leo was unwilling to risk further time on talking – that was, after all, what this woman was stalling for.

"What is your name?" He finally asked the woman.

"Counsellor Dandra Wei."

"Then I will ask for you when I return," he reached up. "Renzucon out."

The ship turned and lurched into hyper drive at Leo's command, breaking the communications and leaving Leo in complete silence. He was alone now. As the ship flew on to Pentusar, there was only the flickering of lights and the thrum of engines.

It was distracting and terrifying at the same time, to be so apart from reality, travelling at a speed beyond all reckoning, to a place as far away from Earth as anything might possibly be. His mother was in the hands of an enemy more powerful than Leo might have ever imagined – his Master in the hands of his allies, being stripped of his ability as a Jedi.

And here he was, frog-stepping across the Galaxy, in order to sneak a peek over the Empire's garden fence.

Remembering just how far the trip to Pentusar was; two hours, Leo decided that an hour in meditation could hardly do his exhausted body any harm. And if he needed to protect himself, then at least he would have recovered a little from the exhaustive activities that he had been thrust into today.

Soon enough, he was in a pleasant trance, his eyes shut, and his hands braced on his knees. After that, time ceased in Leo's tired mind, and it was only when the computer woke him that he knew that two hours had passed.

Thankfully, no Battlestar was waiting for him when the Renzucon came out of hyper drive. There were a few massive cargo ships, a few small, mean looking ships – just the kind of space traffic that had been here the last time he'd come…the time he was here with Ranzel.

He bit his lip. When he got his mother back, he would go before the Council to prove his worth as a Jedi to them. They would not be able to deny him if he survived going into enemy space, would they? If he survived, of course; he could just as easily die, or worse, be turned. No…he was determined to resist the icy call of the Dark Side. No power was worth becoming a ruthless killer.

Leo stretched back in the seat and began to work his fingers over the now familiar console, working back into the ship's star charts. He found Coruscant's number, then ran it through the navi-computer, bringing up a route map.

Only then did Leo begin to realise the distances involved.

Coruscant was not only in another galaxy, it was also another galaxy over from their current position.

Concerned, Leo asked the library just how many galaxies were under Empire control.

The answer was, potentially, thirteen, with eight more which the Intergalactic Empire was attempting to overthrow.

And of those thirteen Imperial held galaxies, the one that held Coruscant was in the very centre. A formidable, fortified HQ, held by the Dark Side itself. Leo felt a shiver of fear run up his spine as he attempted to summon an image of the planet.

There was nothing in the library. Leo assumed it must be nigh on impossible to fly close enough to snap it – and get back out with the image. It was certainly not worth the risk, for a simple picture…

But Leo was going there for his mother. At least, he could only assume that was where he should be going. There was no way to assume that the Thunderstrike would really take her there. It could be folly; walking into a trap.

There was no other choice, though. He must make this decision to go, or else simply wait until the Council caught up with him. Leo sighed and leant back just a little. How could he do this, exactly? It would be impossible…he could only be outnumbered at every turn.

But perhaps if he kept his appearances erratic - made short jumps – and kept the Empire on their toes…

Interrupting his thoughts was a most inane feeling, like he was about to be attacked. Wasn't he safe here; alone? No…the attack was upon the ship, not directly upon him. Leo reached out instinctively to activate the shields, and barely after he'd done it, the ship rocked with the effect of the powerful weapons.

He activated the communications device. "This is the Renzucon. Why are you firing upon me?"

There was no reply. So Leo brought the sub light engines up slowly, sending the ship into a violent spin that momentarily made his stomach lurch, and then, stopping the spin, he sent the Renzucon on a death defying loop the loop. He caught a momentary glance of the vessel. Nothing he'd ever seen before. It was a battered old vessel, a little smaller than the Renzucon. Could this be a Bounty Hunters ship?

The Renzucon sailed on swiftly, and Leo brought her into a smooth arc to the right. With his left hand he tapped in the coordinates of one of the random planets a short hop in from the border. Hopefully he would survive long enough to get that far, but his shields were suffering already from the violent blows of the other ship.

Coming out of its turn, the Barridian Cruiser came face to face with a barrage of bolts from the Bounty Hunter. Leo pressed the control down and the Renzucon flashed underneath the attack. The antagonist must have stopped and turned around entirely to go after him in such a manner. Clever…but Leo would not fall for it again.

Leo realised just in time that he hadn't activated the navi-computer in the haste to rescue himself from the attack. Now he allowed himself to hit the command and concentrated on going in a straight line, the Bounty Hunter chasing his tail.

Wishing that he knew just who this mysterious attacker was working for, and just how much he was worth, Leo allowed himself a glance at the navi-computer.

It only had two numbers, and the slower ones were yet to come. It was perhaps, a longer jump than he'd meant to make. But if he stopped the computer now, it could only be more difficult.

He would have to wait it out, and survive the furious attacks until such a time. At least, the Bounty Hunter was only aiming at disabling him for now.

Leo sent the Renzucon out of its slow rotation and sent it straight up, cutting the engines and turning it with the created momentum back round to face the Bounty Hunter. It had veered off, but Leo now had the edge of an advantage. Bringing the engines back up, Leo brought the ship onto the Bounty Hunter's tail instead - bringing up the controls for the ion canons and firing at the retreating, door handle shaped ship.

It started firing at him in response, from a weaker reverse weapon, and Leo began his evasive tactics as he flew on towards the momentarily retreating Bounty Hunter.

Four numbers – only three more to go.

Suddenly the Bounty Hunter simply stopped, and the Renzucon crashed on with blistering speed towards the idle cruiser.

A last minute from reaction from Leo sent the ship rising up at an extreme angle to avoid hitting the ship. He twisted the controls, determined not to point in the same direction for longer than he needed to.

The Bounty Hunter had turned below him, and now they were both running on parallel courses. Any movement Leo made was cut off by the other ship. After a moment's irritation, Leo simply wheeled the controls around again and started in the other direction.

The comprehension required to understand his move and mimic it gave him enough time to get a little further ahead of the other ship. One more number now; one more number decided the rest of his life. He would be in light speed, or he would be dead – it was simple.

The Bounty Hunter was catching up with him little by little. Something of its design giving it superior engines, or perhaps simply the balance of shielding over engine power… None the less it was gaining on him.

Beeping, the navi-computer announced its having found all the numbers, to Leo's thankful relief, and he fed them through swiftly, giving the ship one last evasive wheel to avoid a flurry of ion bolts. The green light came on for hyper drive – and then the ship plunged into the safety of super speed.

Finally, the ship was in silence, and Leo ran the sensors over the ship to check for damage. One of his manoeuvring thrusters had been shot out by a stray blast, and his shields were on a scant thirty percent. He couldn't divert any power to replenish them while maintaining this speed, so they would have to stay at thirty percent until he could recharge them.

Meanwhile, Leo wasn't entirely sure just how long a jump they were making. It could take days to get to the planet that he had tapped in. He ran the question through the computer. Two days, twelve hours and thirty one minutes, in fact. Well, that was certainly long enough to recover from his adventure down on Iroth.

Stretching his arms out before him, Leo thought back on everything that had happened, and let himself rise up from the computer console.

He would train himself to exhaustion now, he supposed, and then he would go back into hibernation until his body was recovered quite enough to train some more. With the challenge passed advising him in the challenge to come, he may yet be able to improve.

If anything, the battle with Eroth had come to encourage him to become better. He had lost so easily to him. And only fear had made him flee. Next time, he would not be afraid; he could not let himself be. Fear is the path to the Dark Side, he repeated to himself, as he turned and began back down through the innards of the ship.

He would not be subverted to the Dark Side under any circumstances.